Track II diplomacy: Indo-Russian think tanks set to get closer

Some experts believe Russia needs to focus on the ‘strategic triangle’ of US-China-India, arguing that this would be of “exceptional importance” for shaping Russia’s future. Source: Alamy/Legion Media

As Russia’s global strategic footprints are fast expanding, Moscow is incrementally taking its ties with India to a next level through the Track II expert-level dialogue mechanism.

Think tanks have emerged as
a major conduit in bilateral relations and for Track II diplomacy between
sovereign states today with India and Russia being no exception to this trend.

This is one arena which
would be given due weightage during the 14th Indo-Russian summit in
Moscow later this year. A key Indian official told this writer that the
governments of India and Russia are sensitized to the importance and impact of
the think tanks and efforts would be made to rope in this aspect of bilateral
relationship when the two principles meet in Moscow towards this year end.

As Russia’s global
strategic footprints are fast expanding, Moscow is incrementally taking its
ties with India to a next level through the Track II expert-level dialogue
mechanism.

Actually no such mechanism
exists formally but things are changing and the track II process is slowly on
way to become institutionalized. Among the Indian think tanks, perhaps it is
the privately-funded Observer Research Foundation (ORF) that takes the lead in
focusing on Russia in a manner no one else has.

ORF discovered Russia long
before any other Indian think tank - state-controlled or privately-funded,
because of the sagacious figure of its founder RK Mishra who understood the
long-term importance of Russia for India. ORF has been actively engaged for
years on conducting events on Russia and Indo-Russian bilateral relations for
almost a decade. Since 2007, in collaboration with the Russiky Mir Foundation,
ORF has been organizing an annual Indo-Russia dialogue wherein the movers and
shakers of the two countries have participated.

The combo of ORF and
Russiky Mir held their sixth Indo-Russia dialogue in November 2012 and had
a laser beam focus on five primary areas in which India and Russia have
overlapping interests and concerns. These were: ’Afghanistan 2014: The Way
Forward’, ’The Arab Awakening: Implications for India and Russia’, ’The
Emerging Security Architecture in Asia, ’Indo-Russian Relations’, and ’BRICS
and Global Governance’.

From among the state-funded
Indian think tanks, there are two outfits which have been working on the
Indo-Russian bilateral theme: Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA)
and Indian Council for World Affairs (ICWA).

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IDSA, however, has not been
able to focus on Russia as much as it wanted to. This is largely because the
Russians themselves have not been forthcoming and because it takes two to
tango. IDSA has held country-specific workshops, seminars and events over the
years but not a single one on Russia. IDSA is aware of this anomaly and wants
to make amends, given the close political relations between India and Russia.

Brigadier Rumel Dahiya, the
Deputy Director General of IDSA, told this writer that the IDSA is planning to
hold a first-ever Russia-specific event sometime in October-November this year.
Dahiya said Russia was very much in the scheme of things of the IDSA as far as
the Track II process was concerned, this process had not thus far lived up to
its true potential and efforts were on to rectify things.

He said IDSA has an
arrangement/understanding with think tanks of four dozen countries and his
think tank was working towards having an international event on Russia later
this year. “India and Russia are very close strategic partners but somehow
their bilateral relations have lacked the required punch and the same is true
about the Indo-Russian strategic communities. We are in touch with our Russian
counterparts and hope to fill the gap very soon,” Brigadier Dahiya said.

While IDSA gets about the
task of putting its act together with regard to Russia, another state-funded
Indian think tank has just started the Russia-connect process – the Indian
Council of World Affairs (ICWA).

The ICWA, in association
with the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), organized a
conference on “New Contours of India-Russia Special and Privileged
Strategic Partnership” in Moscow in May, 2013. The conference was a track II
initiative and aimed at examining the convergences and divergences, the future
prospects of their bilateral “special and privileged strategic partnership” and
the impact on their bilateral relations in their relationship with other major
players like US, China, EU and Japan.

Russian speakers at this
conference said Russia needed to focus on the ‘strategic triangle’ of
US-China-India, arguing that this would be of “exceptional importance” for
shaping Russia’s future.

The ICWA initiative
promises to be an institutionalized mechanism wherein India would explore the
world with the Russian prism. This is all the more important from the Indian
view point considering that Russia is the only country to be a member of three
premier international outfits like the G8, the G20 and BRICS.

According to 2012 Global Go
To Think Tanks Report and Policy Advice, released in January 2013,there are
6603 think tanks in the world – with India ranked at number four in that year
with 269 think tanks after the US, China and the UK. In 2010, India had the
distinction of holding the third position, with its share of 292 think-tanks
among the 5,329 such institutions round the globe, after the US (1,815) and
China (425). Russia has 112 think tanks.

The numbers keep changing.
But it would be a pity to see the four hundred-odd think tanks in India and
Russia not to interact with one another proactively considering the special and
privileged political relationship that the two countries have had for decades.